His Undoing
by eclecticAnarchist
Summary: This is a story about the Helmsman and the Condesce. I really suck at summaries. I really can't think of any other way to describe this. I plan on making it longer.This will not be a drabble (hopefully).


"You, my dear, sweet Psionic will face a far worse, if more prestigious fate," whispered the Condesce, her voice taunting and seductive as she stood on tip toe to whisper in the Psionic's ear, sending a shiver down the tall toll's spine. "You're to be my Helmsman"

"Oh Hellllmsmaaan!" slurred a familiar voice. "Ohhhhh Hellllmsman!" cried the Condesce as she stumbled down the hallway to the engine room. I could hear her, clumping away, something metal clanging into the walls of the corridor as she staggered against them. The leader of the troll race burst into the engine room, long dark hair matted and wild about her face, eyes bloodshot from alcohol. _If only your people could see you now,_ I thought as I gazed down at the woman who filled my days with torment. No, her people would never see her now, like this. Only I saw her this way, hair unbound, and clothes filthy, and smelling of alcohol.

"Well there you are, my silly little Helmsman!" she said, dropping her culling fork and lurching forward in what I assumed was an attempt kiss me. She missed and sloppily kissed my jaw instead. I pulled away slightly, which was he best I could manage in my situation, and felt my temper rising. I hated when she came down here like this, slobbering drunk and horny as hell. _Focus on the ship, focus on the ship. _I did my best to ignore the Condesce and ran an unnecessary all-systems check. She giggled and stepped deeper into the forest if pink, bioelectric wiring, that held me, using them to pull herself up onto the my body, wrapping her slender arms around my neck and leaning close to me, her bodysuit stretched tight over her curvaceous form.

"Oh, that's right," she said with a drunken hiccup, "I forgot you really can't go anywhere else!" she said and descended into a fit if laughter, still hanging around the my neck. Her Imperial Condescension truly was a paragon of wit. How nice of her to point out that, constricted as I was, I could do nothing but hang there, and endure. She leaned forward, reveling in the weary resignation on my face, and mashed her lips to mine once again. The look of smug superiority on her face brought me back to myself somewhat. She thought she had won, that I had nothing else left in me. True, four sweeps as her Helmsman had worn away whatever hope and optimism I once had, but I had never had an abundance of either of those things. If anything, my slavery had only made my cynicism and will to fight greater. Slowly, I felt the old familiar rage rising in me. Rage for the Condesce and her sick ways, and for all those others who at by and watched as their very own people were ground into submission. Old sermons surfaced in my mind, the Signless ranting it that gentle, authoritative manner that had won over so many hearts. He was gone now. My moirail was gone. She had killed him.

"Get off me," I growled through gritted teeth. The fuchsia blood did nothing but settle herself more comfortable against my hips with a vacuous, drunken smile. That was it. I had had enough of her. Steeling myself, I exerted some psionic energy and plucked the Condesce off of me, red and blue energy flashing along her body as I tossed her onto the floor. She landed with a thump, her vapid expression turning to one of anger as she stood. It was then that I realized that this was probably not one of my better moves

"You dare!" she shrieked, lunging for her culling fork, and taking a few quick steps forward, bringing the weapon to bear on my stomach. Shit. This was not going to end well for me. She snarled, lips peeling back to display a mouth full of sharp fangs. "You dare use your disgusting freak lights on me? Me, your superior in every way possible?"

"Somehow they aren't so disgusting when they are powering your ship," came my smart ass reply. I couldn't help myself. Sudden pain flashed through me as she thrust her hand forward, golden prongs piercing my flesh. I gasped as pain rocked through me. A slight tremor ran through the ship, and all systems suffered from a temporary malfunction as I fought to regain my hold on the ships mainframe._ Stupid, stupid, stupid! _You'd think that by now I'd learn to watch my god damn mouth.

All across the ship, crew members were initiating the ship's backup power supply, power being pulled from a power core rather than my life force. The higher ups among the crew knew what was happening down here; they knew where their ships' power came from, and were fine fine with it. No, more than fine with it, they probably enjoyed the knowledge that their Empress was torturing a lowblood somewhere belowdecks. Sick bastards. The lowbloods among the crew were used to these interruptions, without knowing the cause, and knew how to cope with these unexplained power outages. Both groups, however, knew that it would not be over yet, and unfortunately, so did I.

The Condesce frowned down at the now-slick culling fork clutched in her manicured hand. Mustard yellow ichor seeped from the wound in my side in a worryingly steady stream, soaking fabric of my ragged jumpsuit. "Well that does look bad," she said as she pursed her painted lips and simpered at me. I glared pure hatred at her, but she seemed unperturbed. I guess my glare of pure hatred isn't at its most potent when I have a fucking trident sticking out of my side and a megalomaniac highblood clinging to my neck and am grafted to the hull of a starship every moment having my life sapped out of me to fuel said starship. I'd have to work on that.

"You've got such a tongue on you, Helmsman. I do hate it when you make me angry," the Condesce purred as she stroked the side of my face. I gritted my teeth in a futile attempt to withhold a whimper as the pain in my side intensified and then lessened as she pulled the culling fork from my side and cast it with a clang to the cold metal floor of the engine room. She smiled at me in mock apology, her long nails trailing through my hair. With her other hand she reached down and gently stroked the wound, trailing her fingers over the three jagged punctures, exerting her gift as she did so. I felt the pain ebb away and eventually fade completely and could not help but sigh in relief.

"There," she said with a too-sweet smiled. "All better. Wouldn't want you to break down again." The voluptuous troll brought her yellow-coated fingers to her mouth and casually licked the blood away. "I do hate faulty machinery." A chill of cold fear tingled at my spine. _Wouldn't want you to break down again._ Memories that I had thought long buried resurfaced. A crunch of bone, a spurt of yellow blood, her laughter, and the cold respite of what I had hoped to be death. I was wrong. She hadn't allowed it. This was three sweeps ago, when I was new to this whole Helmsman business, and had not yet accepted my fate. I had provoked her, wishing to end my torment. In retrospect the whole affair had caused more pain than it was worth, and had not managed to kill me.

Well technically it had, but thanks to her Touch, it hadn't been for very long. Her brutalization of me led to the ship having to run using a power core for a week while her bio-technicians had to repair the control hub from where she had ripped me from my wiring. And of course, her surgeons had to fix me up as well. But soon enough they had everything fixed up and had me re-grafted to the ship. I dread to think what the scars look like underneath all this wiring. Lucky for me I will in all certainty, never have to see them.

I can't remember much from the following sweep; I assume they just drugged me into submission, afraid of another outburst that would leave both their ship and their precious Empress so compromised. I got my consciousness privileges back eventually and had learned not to provoke the highblood. Apparently I did not learn that lesson too well seeing as that was exactly what I just did. Needless to say it was not an experience I wished to relive. Sometime during my trip down memory lane the Condesce had climbed down of of me and now leaned over a nearby computer console. That could not be good.

Her face was drawn in concentration as she bent over the illuminated screens, flicking switches and fiddling with wiring. Apparently anger and being thrown around a bit had sobered her up. After ten minutes of this, I grew impatient, and was about to open my mouth to ask her what she was doing and why she couldn't do it somewhere else when a bright, white wall of pain slammed into me. I think I screamed. I don't know for certain. At that point blind panic and mind-numbing pain had a hold of me and was not letting go. As I struggled through the pain, a sudden, sickening realization came over. That was exactly what it was. Mind-numbing. I could no longer use my psionics.

I struggled against the pain, attempting to reach that part of me that had always been in such easy reach. That part of me that would allow me to reach outside of myself and manipulate the world around me was gone. No, it wasn't completely gone. I could still feel it under the oppressive force of the pain. I panicked and reached out again, attempting to use my psionics. I closed my eyes as the wall pushed down on me with more strength, and the world began to darken at the edges.

As soon as I released that part of me that was reaching for my psionics I could open my eyes, though my jaw remained firmly clenched against any witty reply I might come up with. I soon realized that I had overestimated myself, and that there was no way in hell that I could convince my mutated brain to do anything besides just hang there and try not to pass out. The pain surrounded me and I remained in my agonized and unspeaking state for a stretch of time that could have been three minute or three hours. I simply hung there, completely still, vision pulsing with bright white light. Eventually the pain faded into the background; it was still there, still painful, still blocking my psionics, but it had lessened. I turned my gaze to look down at the Condesce's smirking face. She answered my unspoken question, graceful eyebrows arched and a satisfied grin on her lips.

"I had them installed last time we updated the console," She said, straightening from where she was leaned over the console and taking a few seductive steps towards me, hips swaying from side to side. There was a teasing tone in her voice as she continued, one that perfectly matched the mocking smile that lit her face. "The technicians said that they would effectively dampen a psionic's telekinetic abilities. What do you think, Helmsman? Did they do a good job?" I growled at her, still unable to form coherent words. She smirked at me and took another step forward, coming to a stop just in front of where I was suspended.

"I'll take that as a yes," she sighed, sadistic pleasure showing in her voice as she examined my grimacing face. "This is what you get for being such a bad boy," she said in a lilting voice, "I had it installed for just this situation. I had hoped that I would never need to use it, but you didn't leave me much of a choice. You must understand, I can't tolerate a filthy lowblood such as yourself throwing around the Empress. It just won't do." A glint flashed dangerously in her fuchsia eyes as she once again hauled herself up to look me in the eye. A disturbingly tender expression came over her face as she ran a hand over my sunken cheek.

"I'll take them off. I'de be happy to. I just need one thing from you in return," she said, hunger in her voice. I felt dread rising in me. I knew what that hunger meant. Too well for my liking. She moved her head, bringing her lips down to meet mine. I moved at the last minute, so that her kiss landed on my cheek rather than on my lips.

"No," I whispered, my voice hoarse. I looked into her face as I said it, and saw the rejection written clearly across her features. Then came the anger. She slapped me hard, rocking my head back, and causing a twinge in my already painful head. Then she grabbed a fistful of my hair and brought my face to hers as she brought her lips down forcibly on my own. The kiss was full of anger, and something else, something that made me shudder to consider. Longing. Actual longing. She let go of my head with a jerk and took a step back, a flash of that same longing showing in her eyes as I stared at her incredulously. She had made sexual advances on me before, but it had never been like this. Before it was territorial, showing me that I was hers, and that she could do anything she wanted to me. But this? This was something different. Whatever had shown in her face was gone, now replaced by hard anger.

"I would have removed them, but now I think you need to be taught a lesson," she said, a manic smile on her face. "Goodbye, Helmsman, I'll see you in a bit. Enjoy the blocks while I'm gone!" And with that she stormed out of the room, seamlessly stooping to pick up her culling fork as she left. I stared after her. She had left the psionic blocks on, meaning that I would be both unable to use my psionic abilities, and in constant pain until the Condesce cooled down. Knowing her, that could take anywhere between a day and a sweep. Fuck.


End file.
